The versatile Charly Musonda is a great option, but he’ll set you back a bit (Picture: Getty)

The release of Football Manager 2018 is here and that means it’s time to pick a club, sign some players, hone your tactics and start winning matches.

One of the first ports of call for most players is to snap up some wonderkids and bolster your academy ranks – that’s assuming you take a long-term approach and aren’t a Harry Redknapp-style wheeler-dealer.

A wonderkid is any player with potential ability (a hidden in-game stat) of 150 or more (out of 200), and who is 20 years of age or under.

We’ve done the legwork to scour the latest edition of the game to find some of the best wonderkids in each position, though to reach their potential you’ll need to treat them right. Here, we look at Midfielders…

BEST WONDERKID MIDFIELDERS

Renato Sanches may not be up to much in real life, but he’s a superstar on FM (Picture: Getty)

There are a tonne of high potential – and highly expensive – midfield wonderkids, though with the majority already at established European giants it could be difficult to lure them away. Bayer Leverkusen have yet another gem in Kai Havertz, while there’s even some Championship representation in the form of Ruben Neves. If you’ve got a smaller budget, here’s some alternatives to consider…